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Boeing knew shuttle was in trouble

A COMPUTER simulation warning that Nasa’s doomed Columbia space shuttle faced potential disaster was rejected as inaccurate by engineers at Boeing, the global aerospace company, it has been claimed.

Details of the alleged blunder emerged as part of the official inquiry into the shuttle’s crash. Seven astronauts were killed when it broke up while returning to Earth on February 1. The cause of the crash is still uncertain but attention is focusing on the damage done by debris that fell from the shuttle’s fuel tank and slammed into its wing 82 seconds after takeoff.

The Boeing simulation, carried out while the shuttle was in orbit, showed that up to 15 tiles from the shuttle’s heat-shield may have been knocked off by the debris. Knowing that so many tiles were at risk would have been a clear warning to Nasa of impending disaster. However, Boeing engineers decided the computer had exaggerated